Last martial arts comp of the season, announcing in Finland and UK and the first weeks of Project bench!

Like I wrote on the last post, the week after the hokutoruy comp was just basic powerlifting work, and without a deload I would go on the West Finland for a WABDL comp to announce and from there on sunday to compete in Tampere at the submission wrestling Nationals. On top of that I have ventured already on to the soil of UK, had amazing fun at the Northern Qualifiers of the British Powerlifting Union and had a solid training session with Andy Bolton and his crew in Leeds!

Kauhajoki and the WABDL Easter comp

After a training week I went to the airport and met Emma there, and with a hired car we ventured to the flat fields of West Finland. 

Virpi and Juha Pukkila had arranged once again one of the biggest and most laid back comps of the year, the Easter tradition comp of WABDL Finnish Open. This competition has grown from 13 participants the first time decade ago to a comp of almost 100 lifters and more World champions competing than the original comp had participants. 

I enjoyed announcing and had quite a few friends lifting, as is the case usually in the competitions of Finland. Virpi and Juha were fantastic hosts, and even put on a show for the crowd lifting a tandem bench press! 275kg RAW as a couple, Juha on the bench and Virpi on top of him!

Here is the best RAW bench of the comp also:

After the comp and catching up with friends I headed to Tampere for an overnight in a hotel and then a competition on sunday..

Submission Finnish Nationals:

Not much to write on my part. I wasn´t very committed to the comp, shit tired and not up to par in any way. First bout I was taken to the ground, half willingly as the two first minutes don´t count points, and on the ground I played a waiting game. No drive and no bloodlust. I was in no danger and on the contrary played the opponent a little as he thought he might have a choke. Made him spent energy. But all of the sudden the buzzer went, and I wasn´t even exhausted. And behind on points. Superior match from my opponent, so nothing away from him and a justifiable good win over me. Here is the bout, I will post it even though my lack of trying is pretty embarassing... Less embarassing now though as my opponent later on won the Finnish Open in BJJ, both the heavyweight and the open class!

Second bout has nothing to it. I was caught in a one-time trick leg lock and tapped out even before I felt the pain. So low was I on motivation.I wouldn´t have even competed, but as I had signed up earlier  I wasn´t to cancel without a reason. So that was a anticlimax ending for my fight season. Letś see next year what kind of things the season brings...

Otto "Hulk" Saari did good job again, annihilating 3 opponents to go to the finals. Finals he was ahead but twisted a toe and had to forfeit the bout. So silver for Otto. 

Otto maxing out in the gym

Third one from our team was Tiia Weckman who more focuses on boxing. She suffered a loss to a much larger opponent on the first round, on a two point margin.

Overall not feeling disappointed. Didn´t give my best and just didn´t want it enough. That is it and henceforth no going to a comp if I honestly feel like not to.

Week around home 

Next almost two weeks I spent rarely just around home, training and announcing at a local competition.

The competition was held in a bar near me and it was again one of the funniest competitons to announce, and hard work as hell!

Infernal-Iiro, the promoter of the comp challenged me to a bench press rep competition with a distinct style of holding feet up inth air etc. In Finland that is a popular form of competing, called the soldier bench in Finnish, but in English dubbed as gay bench by Emma James! It is done with the lifters own bodyweight. So even though I was announcing, I was forced to take off my shirt in the middle of the announcing and with jeans on do a rep max with 110kg, that much I weighed on the scale that morning.

Iiro, the promoter on max bench

Eventually I did only 20 reps, Iiro 21, so I lost by one but we had a topless sweaty hug for the crowds amusement and continued on to challenge each other to a crucifix competition also! That one I won, and even sang a song whilst holding the weights, Iiro holding a mic for me. So a full show with all their moneys worth for the audience. Too bad we had such little video footage.

Here is  picture of Arttu and Emma posing at the afterparty...

Two lifters who weighed in at 79.6kg both 

Announcing and lifting abroads

After a domestic week I then ventured on to UK. With no sleep on the night between friday and saturday I arrived to Manchester, and then it was naptime and a little helping out with the competition arranging for sundays comp.

Working on the table with Dan Evans and Paula Norcup

The Sunday competition was a riot! Simon and Paula Norcup had thrown a quality competition in a great venue of Winterton Rangers club house- So many novices, over half of the lifters were first timers. And for once it didn´t mean small weights or bad technique or anything of the like.. Incredible squats and deadlifts especially from the novices, and a 220 raw bench also from a first timer.

Darren Hammond hailing on the deadlift

Really positive was also the vast amount of young female lifters with great attitude towards lifting. Looks like the next generation of gracious, well-mannered lifters is about to emerge.

Smiling novice competitors after a succesful first competition

The best lifter of the day

So there it is, the trips and luckily at least some video and picture footage. I will still record my training and that is it for this update!

5.4. Submission wrestling Finnish nationals. 

Lazy warm-up, two lazy bouts.

6.4. Benching

:

Speed/technique bench: 8x3x140

Gay bench: 10x100, 110, 120, 110, 100

Bench to the throat and pullover superset: 3x20x80+15x23.5kg dumbbell

Push-ups: 2x20

7.4. Triceps and biceps:

Lockouts: 5x100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 190

Pullups, neutral grip: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10xBW

Skullcrushers with 3 second negative: 5x10x50

Biceps curls: with 3 second negative 5x10x50

1-arm curls 3x14

Abbas extensions: 3x15-20

Reverse curls 1x30x20kg

Bench dips: 1x20

Rear delts 5x10

Behind the neck press 3x20

8.4. Legs:

Squats with no belt until 1x195

belt on 10x165

Pause squats, no belt 5x135

Leg press 4x8-12xAll the weights, sled and Emma

Straigth leg deads: 4x8x110

Leg extension, leg curl, adductor machine, 3x15-30 all three

9. 4. Back:

I made the mistake of starting the workout with Emma on a back day. With a bad back to begin with and a hard session the day before I didn´t realise that I could actually have to struggle to keep up with the weights on her specialty movement, the partial deadlifts from the knee with a exagerated pulling back of shoulder blades, no belt and a specific pattern not familioar to most.. I actually had to struggle. But I did just to piss her off a one extra rep on the last set, worthy of sulking in the gym and her disputing the size of my manhood because of such a low thing to do as to top her set! Priceless!

Emmas partials: 20x60, 10x100, 8x140, 8x180, 6x220

Bent-over rows, curl grip: 4x10x90

1-arm dumbbell rows 4x12x40kg

Pulldown 3x10-20

Pulldowns behind back:2x20

11.4. Raw bench Night at Bar Basso

Announcer forced to do the crucifix competition and 20 reps with 110kg on the bench press with feet up the air!

13.4. Benching at the Mayor`s Gym in Helsinki:

Raw until 3x150 narrow grip

Shirted 3x170, 190, 210, 230, 240

Raw, last rep with a stop: 5x5x140, 2 minute rest only between sets

Dumbbell bench: 4x10x26-56kg

Crossover cable flyes: 2x20

Pushups:1x20

14.4. Bench training with Arttu, biceps and triceps:

Lockouts: 5x5x160

Pullups, neutral, 5x5

Triceps pushdowns with a miniband as extra resistance: 4x10x40-70kg

Hammer curls: 4x10x14-27kg

French press with a straigth bar, stop at the face level: 3x10x50

Biceps curls on incline: 3x12

Abbas extensions: 3x10-15

Comcentration curls: 3x10

15.4.Shoulders and some stretching of upper body:

Stretching 20min.

Behind the neck press 6x10-20x10-30kg

Dips: 4x10

Shoulder combo: 3x15+5x12kg

Rear delt flyes: 3x10x21kg

Arnold press standing:3x12x21kg

Behind the back cable laterals: 3x20

Abs few sets

16.4. Legs:

Squats  until 5x140 no belt, with belt until 3x200

Stop squat special, No belt and the first rep with a one second pause at the bottom, second with a two second pause. 6 reps with 130kg, meaning the last one with a six second pause. Felt like 10 seconds though!

Straight leg deads: 4x8x50-130

Hams with Swiss Ball 2x12

Single leg squat, rear foot elevated 2x10xBW

17.4. Back

Pullups 1,2,3,4,5xBW, lots of stretching etc

Emmas partials:3x8x150

Bent over rows with curl grip: 3x10x110

Inverted rows: 3x12

Pulldowns 3x10, last set with 4 drops 

I feel terrific hitting the weights now, after two weeks of concentrating on the benching/lifting in general. I hope big numbers for this year, and I am happy to say the fire to bench pressing is back and I will try my best to surpass by far my previous lifts!

Never let go

There it is, finally the blog and training log is up to date. Next feature will have training in leeds with Andy Bolton, a report from Fight Night Finland and some news about my new sponsorship. 

Hokutoruy Finnish Nationals. Team and Bushido spirit recovered.

As I was writing this, I was in a bus, Shin still bruised, eye slightly blackened and thighs a bit sore. All from a comp week before. I was on my way to announce at a competition and after that compete in s asubmission comp the day before. But more on those in the next update, now it´s time to catch up on the Hokutoruy Jujutsu Nationals and the first week concentrating on weights after that.

The Hokutoruy Jujutsu Finnish Nationals with team Zanshinkan

We left with a group of eight men on the saturday morning, everyone except me and the team leader and Zanshinkan head coach Kimmo Nurkse were starving a little to get to their weight classes. I on the other hand opened the day with two plates of porridge and 15 slices of bacon! It never gets old mocking the weight cutters when you´re a superheavy yourself!

Journey was full of laughter and all kinds of game plans popped up. From slipping illegal blows to resorting in a singing and dancing distraction. Overall we were in good spirits, and everybody was in a decent shape. No terrible nagging pains or old injuries, thats always a bonus!

Otto and me comparing our tremendous muscle mass in the locker room

Weigh-ins done we loitered for a while, had a rules meeting and then changed. The bouts started slowly, and our team was on fire one by one. Sadly, 4 out of competitors falled out of the tournament on the first round, 3 of their counterparts eventually made it to the finals so no shame in that.
Otto "Hulk" Saari won his first one by a choke, Sami"Foot Fetish" Saarinen kicked and took down his abnormally tall opponent to score a points victory, and I, although losing via points, still had a bronze match because my side of the bracket had lead straight to the semi-finals. Its often the same in superheavy, not too many competitors.



I am not pleased with my first bout. The guy I was facing was a Swedish hokutoruy black belt and a world champion, but his ground skills were at a level I should have been able to exploit. Stand up was his, and he scored couple of head kicks and some hard knees to my belly and that earned the points. Nothing really hurt to be honest, not during the bout. After the bout my shin was bloodied and swollen, because of his skillful blocking and my girly shins that aren´t yet hardened.

Overall I managed to pummel him I think with a bit more damage. Found out a completely new weapon to be used in striking with the gi to grab on. An ice hockey style hook with a large arc. Bushido bench hook Sami dubbed it! That I used successfully and even at some point felt I could knock him out with that, judging by the sounds he made and the sound my fists made when contacting his midsection. But he didn´t drop and scored a rightful points victory, in the Hokutoruy judging head kicks score high and he had a solid technique overall.


After the bout he declared that he cannot continue and asked the jury to let me continue to the finals instead. Jury rightfully declined, and pointed out to him that he has 5 hours to get back in shape for the finals and he should find the courage to do that if nothing is really broken.
That he did and stood in the finals like a man. I cheered him as he made through the full bout at the nights finals and lost on points. Clearly, but still by fighting, not a forfeit. And I felt small pride that even though I had a close points loss to him, I had done more damage than him to me and on top of that, the man who eventually won the tournament couldn´t finish him either. And he is a Judo, BJJ and Hokutoruy champion of Finland and an outstanding martial artist. It gave me some trust that maybe with a bit more skill my mindset will allow me to accomplish something small even on this sideline of my sports career.

Sami lost on points the next round, and went on to the bronze match which saw him also suffer a loss. But a great comeback to the accomplished fighter, and I truly await to see the old Sami in action again with his ferocity. Before the comp he joked about having his arm broken and taking a sick leave...

Picture tells more than a thousand words

Otto continued to dominate with huge Judo skills and really did  a superb job! Suplex, trips, takedowns, throws, he dished them all and spiced it up with kicks to the legs and strikes to the body. Did not envy his opponents.


I had a bronze bout ahead of me. I was devastated because I let the place in the finals slip from my hands, nothing takedownwise or in the groundwork was up to my standards, and the reason was the nerves. The first bout was hard on nerves, and my mental strength was all sapped just to keep in the right mode to be not afraid and ferociously hand out some punishment. It worked to a certain point, but it didn´t score enough points.

This time I was on. Sakke gave me great advice on kicking the legs when clinching, I had discovered I can throw mean hooks when clinching to a guys collars during the first bout and overall I wasn´t nervous, I was thirsty.

The second bout was mine. Timing on the kicks was off, legs sore from the first bout. My kick timing overall in the two bouts resembles more of an epileptic seizures than directed effort. But then I just used my rather fast for my size front leg when moving, and in close distance I dished out hooks and low kicks. That worked better than air kicking, and those strikes were enough to make my opponent pull his legs and body back which opened a chance for a takedown. I scored two of those, and while grappling on the ground I managed to land two really mean elbows.


Those elbows were the culmination point of the bout, and during the break between rounds my opponent showed his ribs to the doctor. He found out they´re broken and that was it, no second round needed!  I would be lying if I´d say I didn´t enjoy a fair bit from delivering the elbows. Still its not the attempt ever to break anything. But we all know what we sign up so no apologies, just get well soon to him.

The competition had the finals in a grand night gala, It featured all kinds of exhibitions and competitions from group Kata to tile breaking. And Karate, Taido and Jujutsu Finnish National final bouts. So a great Budo feast with something for everyone.

Our hero of the night was the man who is known in training for his sloth-like calmness. But no sloth here, more like a tiger shark with methodological intent of handing out whoopass. Otto made sure work and with takedowns and ground and pound scored the gold medal for our team! We even opened a non-alcoholic sparkling for him before he had to rush for work.


I enjoyed this competition even more than last year. The team spirit and the whole trip was a complete experience. When we ate together and finally left Tampere, that´s when maybe the best point of the trip was. With swollen lips and eyes, broken elbows and bloodied shins. With exhaustion from the 15 hour long day. Never been big on team sports, but I am glad that Tuomas, Otto, Kimmo, Juuso, Sakke, Sami, and Kimmos youngest son were there to share this.

Already looking forward to next year. If THIS TIME I would actually train kicking and moving, not just the hokutoruy spirit and no steps back attitude. Although, all said and done, those are the foundations of success that the skill is built on. So, foundation is solid, now I only need skills and physique!

Heavyweight medalists

Week has flown past now, spent with my godchildren and their parents, 5 weight training sessions, little wrestling and a meeting on which I agreed to have another youth group about once a week and do sports with them. Maybe arts later, but we`ll begin with that.
Now I have ahead of me a powerlifting comp to announce tomorrow, and come sunday I will drag my half-broken body to compete in the submission wrestling nationals, the last comp of the season I think!

Training:
29.3.
Hokutoruy Jujutsu Nationals, warm-up and two bouts.

30.3.
Very sore bench pressing
Warm-up raw until 5x120
With shirt 3x140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 235, all from a comfortable height
Raw gay bench: 5x5x100-140, 10x120, 20x100
Guillotine bench and pullovers with dumbbell superset 3x20x80kg+3x20x23.5kg

31.3.
Lockouts:
5x5x100-180, went well and locked out evenly
Chins neutral:6x6xBW
Hammer curls: 3x12x23.5
Pushdowns with a miniband around the neck as extra: 3x12x40-50
Abbas tris: 3x15x10
Incline dumbbell bis to stretch:3x15x10
Reverse curl: 2x25x25
Bench dips 2x20
Arms pumped!

1.4.
Shoulder and abs, 6 sets of abs, 14 sets of shoulder, stretching and pumping exercises
4x1-2min. in cold bath, 4x10-15min. sauna
50 minutes of stretching

2.4.
Morning:
50min. of tumbling and wrestling technique
Evening:
Back:
Emmas partials: 5x5x140, thumb couldnt hang on to the bar, still sore from the jujutsu comp and no straps...
Cable row with squeeze and stretch: 3x10x100
Inverted row wide:3x10
Pulldown wide: 3x10x70-100
pulldown behind neck and pullover with rope superset: 3x20+20
4 sets of abs
4x1-2min. of cold bath, 3x10-15min sauna

3.4.
Morning: 60min. of tumbling and sub wrestling, light sparring
Evening:
Legs:
Squat: without belt until 1x180, belt 12x165. Easy sets, was tired and saving energy.
High bar stop squat, no belt: 3x5x120
1-leg squat with back leg elevated 2x12 per leg
Overhead squat:3x20x20kg
Straight leg deads 5x10x60-100
Calves on a leg press: 3x25
1- legged calf raises 2x15

That has been my week, so weights all out, that is the priority now. No deloading for the submission wrestling comp, and hard taping needed for the thumb, By I post this the announcing and competing wil be done, but Ill leave those to the next update.